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As we say goodbye to 2014, we want to take a look back at some of Pinnacle’s top moments of 2014.

1. 20th Birthday

Pinnacle Promotions celebrated our 20th birthday in July. We hosted a company celebration replete with songs, and food, and fun.

2. Pinnacle’s Big Office Move

After 10 years in our previous location, we moved to a new, spectacular office space in February. We had to work around some pretty major weather delays, but eventually we arrived at our new digs with our pink crates and worked quickly to get settled in!

3. Holiday Gift Giving

Pinnacle Promotions Do Good Feel Good committee chose a foster family to adopt for the holidays. Our team shopped for Barbies and pjs and makeup for two sisters taken in with nothing but the clothes on their back just before the holidays. How fun it was to make a difference in the lives of these young ladies. Pinnacle team members donated more than $500 in gifts and gift cards for this family and these girls.

4. Pinnacle Promotions named #58 on ASI Counselor Magazine’s Best Places to Work 2014

For the fifth year, Pinnacle Promotions is named to ASI Counselor Magazine’s Best Places to Work. The family culture, continuing education training and career pathways, and flexible work schedules all contributed to the recognition in 2014.

5. Pinnacle’s New Brand

January 3rd, 2014, Pinnacle introduced our new brand to the world in a huge unveiling!

6. Atlanta Idea Expo ’14

Pinnacle hosted our first-ever Atlanta Idea Expo ’14. The event happened on September 17th, and was the first of its kind for Pinnacle. We invited area clients, and some clients from farther away, to spend the day at our new offices with vendors, free samples and a delicious lunch.

9. Trustpilot honors Pinnacle Promotions

Trustpilot is an online-review platform for ecommerce businesses. Trustpilot boasts more than 7.5 million reviews on its site, representing businesses in more than 16 countries. Pinnacle Promotions uses Trustpilot for its customer review program. And, we were so very proud to accept the first-ever Trustpilot Customer Milestone Award. In July, Trustpilot recognized Pinnacle Promotions for collecting more than 500 reviews. Of those reviews, the majority are five-stars.

10. Counselor Best Place to Work Road Tour

11. World Cup Watching

Like many workplaces around the world, Pinnacle gathered in our new, large breakroom several afternoons in July to cheer the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team on through their journey at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. #USA #USA #USA

12. Emory Winship

Each year, our team members join Emory University (we are alumni, they are a client) for their annual fundraising 5K race.

13. Inc. 5000

14. Snowmaggedonpocalypse

The snow and ice storm that hit Atlanta in January and February not only shut down most of Georgia, but also slowed our office move. On the bright side, this past year we initiated an “always on” connection plan so that our offices are never really closed, moving forward.

We can’t wait to see what 2015 brings to Pinnacle Promotions, and to all of you!

Challenge

Hush Puppies was looking to increase sales of Hush Puppies shoes in the Fall for their WeatherSmart campaign and in the Spring for their Commuter campaign using a gift with purchase. The Pinnacle programs team worked closely with the fabulous group at Hush Puppies to develop just the right products to help Hush Puppies make the right impression with their value-added items.

“Hush Puppies helped the world relax… but it took a bit of work to get there. The history of Hush Puppies is rooted in comfort innovation – from the first casual shoe with Worry-Free Suede® to the many patented technologies that make shoes more comfortable and lightweight. From the beginning, the revolutionary use of Scotchgard® leather protector, added during the tanning process, made Hush Puppies leather scuff, stain and water resistant and changed suede footwear forever. Water beaded up and rolled away, leaving feet dry and the suede soft, supple and looking like new. Hush Puppies made “worryfree” a benchmark of its shoes and its brand attitude. In the 1980’s, Hush Puppies combined “computer modeling, biomechanical design and state of the art shoe crafting” to introduce the Hush Puppies “Body Shoe®” and ushered in the walking shoe era.”

The long, storied history of innovation at Hush Puppies set the bar high for quality and unique product offerings!

Solution

Pinnacle provided our client with IdeaKits featuring product ideas that would speak to the campaign messages.
• For WeatherSmart Campaign, we designed a fashion-forward folding umbrella that would appeal to the retail distribution channel.
• For Commuter Campaign, we designed a fashion-forward keychain and introduced a clever, new & unique product called the PopSockets(R) for a mobile technology accessory.

Pinnacle managed the production and distribution of these 2 campaigns to Hush Puppies’s nationwide retail channels. We also held available leftover inventory on these items that we then re-purposed for Dealer Incentives (WeatherSmart) and to tie into a Social Media Campaign Giveaways (Commuter).

Result

Pinnacle not only was able to manage and execute the projects successfully for the US, but also for the UK and Canada markets. In addition the retail partners responsible were very impressed with the drive in sales and appreciated we were able to integrate into their distribution network without any hassles.

The average workplace desk has 2.3 toys. Of the desks surveyed, the most popular office toy: The branded Rubik’s cube.

Toys are fun! Toys make you laugh! Toys can make you feel like a kid again! Toys can turn a difficult workday into a positive and even productive day! Putting your logo on a toy can create an instant connection between you and happiness for your audience. Here is a list of some of the logo’d toys we saw in our survey and fun ways to use them.

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The branded Yo-Yo is part brander’s dream and part classic childhood toy. Put your logo on this Yo-Yo and take the dog for a walk.

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Born in 1981, Rubik’s cube becomes an instant hit among geeks and non-geeks alike. It is a staple of our childhood, that has been updated for today’s branding marketing. You can put most any logo on the red, yellow, white and blue squares of the cube we all know and love. Even if we can’t all solve the Rubik’s cube.

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SPLAT! ‘Nuff said.

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To play with by yourself or your coworkers. The promotional hacky sack can provide hours of unproductive fun. And someday, if you practice really hard, you too can become as amazing as Evan Lovely. You, and your brand, can both be winners!

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Who can forget the classic television commercial? Wax nostalgia with this colorful and fun promotional spring. Keep visitors entertained at your booth, also works great as a fun gift to loyal customers.

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The flying disc is perfect for the employee lunch break or your school’s field day. Your logo on one of these can take your brand above the crowd and put smiles on faces. You might not be as good at this as Brodie Smith, but spend a few lunch hours and “brainstorming meetings” with an imprinted flying disc and you might make a few trick shots of your own!

Do you have a promotional toy at your desk? Do you use toys as giveaways for your tradeshow booth? Snap a pic and share it with us on our Facebook wall!

Auburn or Alabama?
Bears or Packers?
College football of NFL?
Gas grill or charcoal grill?
Hot dogs or Brats?
Group section seating or corporate suite?

Corporate picnics were good in the summer, but this is football season! And, it is football-tailgating season. So no matter what team your organization roots for, tailgating and attending a fall football game is always a fun corporate event and great for team building…as long as your team wins!

We polled our account teams and some of our customers and here are our picks for the top must-dos for the corporate tailgating event:

“This was great! Got some ideas for future promotional items that I wouldn’t have thought of otherwise.”

This is just one of the quotes from people who attended Pinnacle Promotions Atlanta Idea Expo ’14. The event happened on September 17th, and was the first of its kind for Pinnacle. We invited area clients, and some clients from farther away, to spend the day at our new offices.

We invited 12 vendors to bring their best presentations, samples and ideas to share with our customers. Guests moved through the offices with a passport, showing destinations and directions for experiencing what each vendor had to offer. At the end of the day, we invited our guests to sign the back of their passport and drop it in a drawing for an iPad. Just for attending, guests were entered to win any number of prizes throughout the day including compu-backpacks, men’s and women’s all-weather apparel and even a golf bag.

Throughout the day, guests were welcome to stop at any one of the five educational sessions. Session topics included Holiday Gifts, Apparel, Case Studies, Company Stores and Social Media. The Apparel and Social Media sessions proved to be the most popular among the attendees. Ideas were flowing fast and fierce!

Guests left Pinnacle with goody bags full of samples and new information about smart products that they can use to promote their brand. They were able to complete sample request cards to get specific samples sent to them at their office for a closer look. They were able to leave with the experience of having spent the day with their co-workers or Pinnacle account teams. And, they were able to leave Pinnacle Promotions with sneak peeks into what promotional items are new and unique for 2015 as well as great ideas for ways to use popular branded items to gear up their team, reward employees or expand their audience.

Click to see more pictures from our event.
If you attended the event at our offices, please stop by our Google+ local page and leave a review about your experience!
And, stay tuned for news and information about our next great event!

Our recent Pinnacle Promotions Atlanta Idea Expo ’14 was a huge success! We invited area customers and prospects to join us for the day to take advantage of promotional samples and a chance to meet with vendors. We hosted several educational seminars. And, we invited our guests to sit down with us for lunch provided by local fav Cue. One of the educational seminars focused on the idea that you can use social media to connect, sell and reward your customers using promotional products.

Your last breakup may not have been worth millions of dollars. But, perhaps you too had to decide what to do with a corporate logo after dissolution or split. Perhaps you needed to find an outlet for your uniforms after a company name or logo change. Or, maybe you decided not to give that favorite concert t-shirt back to your ex. Either way, there’s a lot more to think about after a big breakup than just the feelings. Don’t forget to consider the stuff!

Manchester United Defend (Photo credit: Paolo Camera)

Manchester United, one of the champions of the Barclay’s Premier Football League in England, made big news recently when they switched from Nike to Adidas as the main supplier for their kits. The deal is the highest uniform deal of all time in any sport. Adidas will pay Manchester United $1.3 billion over 10 years to provide uniform kits.

The Initial Breakup: Nike decided after a 10-year relationship that ManU wanted too much money to continue the relationship. Did this have anything to do with Manchester’s recent poor performance in the Premier League? They finished 7th this past season. Either way, when word got out that Nike was moving on, sports powerhouse Adidas was more than happy to move in. Adidas worked a deal to pay $130 million per year for the next 10 years to Man United. They expect $400 million in sales per year to generate from this relationship. Man U put Nike on notice in January, and the Adidas deal was done by June. The new kits start in the 2015-2016 season.

Intellectual Property and New Gear:
Of course, the brand owns their logo as intellectual property. But as part of the complete kit, Adidas will outfit Man U with an updated, slightly tweaked logo, and full game and training uniforms (down to the underwear). However, the deal is only for playing and training wear. Unlike with the Nike contract, now the team will control any other licensing for promotional products directly.

Old Gear:
And what is the team to do with the old, outdated Nike gear? The team will continue to use the kit through the 2014-2015 season. But, what happens to the gear after that?

Often, teams need an outlet for getting rid of outdated products. Some clubs sign the old items and give them to charity. Others are required to donate the items, but not in a geographical area that they can be resold or profited. It can be mandated that the items be sent to third-world countries and given to charity.

Man U is hosting a contest this season so that people can enter to win Nike Tour Gear worn during game play and signed by the players. You can enter here.

Enter to win Tour Gear from Aon

Whether a logo change or corporate split, what do companies do with all the old stuff? Have you found creative ways to use last year’s marketing materials? Tell us in the comments below!

We are excited to announce that we are finally all settled into our new offices!

This is the fourth location for Pinnacle Promotions in our 20-year history. The process to find a new location began in May, 2013. Our organization had outgrown the offices we had called home for more than 10 years. The move involved location scouting, plan development, packing plans, and eventually the actual move, and to do all of this as efficiently and seamlessly as possible.

Owners Mitch and Dave Weintraub worked with local realtors to scout a location that would meet our current needs, but also allow for continued growth and was in a central location for employees. With the new office it was our goal to build out a state-of-the-art showroom and expand our current operations. Pinnacle circulated surveys to the entire company to find out what features were most important to the team. Then working with architect, did their best to accommodate functionality and comfort requests. (In the end, the employees are pretty happy with the results!)

Packing! Is there any worse job when you are moving? Luckily, Flood Brothers Commercial Relocation Services made packing a breeze. Their system of pink, numbered crates helped to ensure that everything made it to the right location. Easy to use, and easy to move!

Personalization is key in the promotional products business. But when it comes to personalization, it seems retail is following the promotional industry’s lead. From the first day that your barista asked to put your name on your cup of coffee at Starbucks, personalization was creeping into mass retail. But recently, both Gatorade and the U.S. Soccer Organization are banking on your desire to personalize their products.

Gatorade’s #WinfromWithin campaign went for the personalization angle earlier this year. You can create your own, personalized label for your Gatorade bottle. But, in creating your own label you were also entered into a contest to win a case of Gatorade bottles with your labels on the bottle.

The U.S. Soccer Organization is currently using personalization to encourage fans to purchase gear and get excited about our national team’s participation in the 2014 World Cup, which begins in Brazil on June 12th. Their “One Nation. One Team.” campaign allows you to not only purchase an official U.S. National Team jersey, but for the first time in an active World Cup season you can personalize the official home jersey with your name and number.

U.S. Soccer

What brands will follow next for personalization? Will you be able to brand your own soda can before it comes out of the vending machine? How about personalized flavors of your favorite brand of chips from your local supermarket? Will we soon see “Gucci by me” on purses and shoes at the mall?

Does your golf outing planning schedule look like this? Win big with good planning and the perfect products.
For years companies have used the Golf Tournament as a way to socialize and reward their customers. One company we know spends as much as $45,000 on their annual spring event. A Golf Tournament has also been a stalwart fund-raiser for the non-profit segment.

Non-profits have certain challenges, especially when it comes to fund raising events that are reward-return based. They need the perfect promotional products to not only thank donors for past giving, but to also encourage them to donate again and spread their message. Sometimes it takes more than one stress ball or mug to do just that.

Here are some ideas to help non-profits find the perfect promotional products for their next Golf Tournament.